Injuries have dominated Week 4 of the NFL, with more than a dozen players forced to leave their games. Several key players, including Saquon Barkley, Lamar Jackson and Tyquan Thornton, were among those injured. As the NFL season progresses, injuries are taking a greater toll on teams across the league. Some players are dealing with minor injuries and will be back within a week, while others face season-ending injuries that could change the course of their team’s season.
According to RotoWire, 460 players across all 32 teams are listed on injury reports. Already, 299 of these players are on the injured reserve or another reserve list. Knee injuries are the most common in the NFL, affecting 102 players, followed by “undisclosed,” with 72 affected and “ankle” injuries, with 50 affected players.
For NFL teams, injuries to key players can be devastating. Success relies on many key players. New York Giants quarterback Jackson Dart is expected to miss the rest of the season after a knee injury in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams. He underwent surgery last week, leaving the Giants without a key player with 13 weeks to go.
The impact of injuries varies by team. The 49ers currently have 23 players listed as injured, the most in the NFL.
Andrew Egan, a strength and conditioning coach at Chestnut Hill College, explains that even though football is a high-velocity collision sport, offseason preparation can play an important role in how an athlete’s body handles the demands of an entire season.
“The No. 1 thing is the lack of training in the offseason, the lack of accountability,” Egan said.
Egan says athletes need to be more consistent in their preparation before the season starts because football puts repeated stress on your body. Without that preparation, players may struggle to handle the physical demands once games begin. A key factor in many NFL injuries is overtraining. If an athlete hasn’t trained properly during the offseason, even a well-designed workout can be damaging.
“Almost everything can be overtraining for them,” Egan said.
For Trish Holmes, a longtime Chiefs fan from Kansas City, the injuries have made this season unpredictable. She adds she still feels optimistic about her team. “You just never want to see an injury and especially one that’s going to be most likely a season-ending injury, Holmes said.
Holmes explains that injuries can happen week to week, at any time, and to any team. Injury is unpredictable. “Every time Mahomes has the ball longer than 2 seconds, I’m like, get rid of it. Don’t want you touched,” Holmes said.
While injuries across the NFL affect teams, recovery can also play a role in why an athlete isn’t healthy throughout the season. Egan said rest is an important part of the recovery process and helps the body adapt after training and game days.
“The adaptations are actually made during rest times,” Egan said.
He said sleep is one of the most important parts of an athlete’s recovery process, along with nutrition, hydration and stress reduction. Even with proper recovery, injuries will always remain part of the game, as football is high impact.
As the NFL enters Week 5 of 18, teams need to balance training, recovery and the physical demands of playing every week. With 460 players already on the injury reports, injuries are becoming a bigger factor as the weeks go on. The challenge is keeping those numbers low and players back on the field.